Is Bowen Yang ready to go full drag? For the right project, it may be very possible. Speaking to IndieWire at the red carpet premiere of his latest film, “The Wedding Banquet,” Yang shared that despite only recently taking part in a remake of a classic film, he’d be down to do so again if it were material he really couldn’t pass up.
“I would love to remake ‘Female Trouble,’” Yang said, highlighting John Waters‘ beloved 1974 dark comedy. “I don’t know who would play Divine or who would play Don Davenport.”
At the same time, Yang doesn’t believe everything has to get remade. In fact, he would prefer if more effort went into honoring and cherishing the original material than trying to reinvent it.
“I think that’s why things like the Criterion Collection are good at preserving these things that need to be preserved because they are kind of encased in amber,” Yang said, “and I feel like sometimes it’s better to not touch those things.”
Yang actually had the privilege of entering the Criterion Closet recently, where he took the time to praise Waters as “probably my favorite director ever.” Amongst his selections was another one the filmmaker’s subversive Divine collaborations, “Multiple Maniacs.”
“What Divine and Mink Stole do in the church, kind of the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen,” said Yang in the Criterion Closet. “I’m not a pearl-clutcher. It takes a lot to shock me. John Waters is a timeless shocker.”
And speaking of shocks, Yang also told IndieWire that he wouldn’t mind offering a few frights of his own should the right role come along.
“I would do a horror movie if I got to be the killer,” he said. Upon hearing “The Wedding Banquet” director Andrew Ahn is considering a take on “The Exorcist,” in considering a role in it, Yang added, “As long as I get to wear beads.”
Offering further praise of Ahn, Yang also said, “He is someone who I think is one of our current modern greats. He, in the spirit of Ang Lee, is able to work with different genres and also keep the same coterie of people around him. That’s what Ang Lee did. He kept the same cohort of people with him and collaborators with him throughout his career. And I feel like Andrew is destined for the same greatness.”
“The Wedding Banquet” is currently in theaters from Bleecker Street.
